Williams Mullen's Trending Now - An IP Podcast - Intellectual Contracts
Protecting IP Through Employment Law
Precedential and Key Federal Circuit Opinions - 1. BACKERTOP LICENSING LLC [OPINION] (23-2367, 23-2368, 24-1016, 24-1017 Prost, Hughes, and Stoll) - Hughes, J. The Court affirmed the District Court’s orders (1)...more
Precedential and Key Federal Circuit Opinions - LKQ CORPORATION v. GM GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY OPERATIONS LLC [OPINION] (2021-2348, 5/21/24) Moore, Lourie, Dyk, Prost, Reyna, Taranto, Chen, Hughes, Stoll, and Stark - Stoll,...more
In a split opinion issued Tuesday, and based on language in an assignment clause of a contract, the Federal Circuit overturned a district court's summary judgment that Core Optical lacked standing to sue Nokia, Cisco, and...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit reversed a district court’s decision in a patent dispute for a lack of subject matter jurisdiction because the plaintiff lacked constitutional and statutory standing....more
Update: The USPTO has now announced that February 5th, 2024 will now be the date for the Assignment Center to replace the Electronic Patent Assignment System (EPAS) and Electronic Trademark Assignment System (ETAS)....more
For the high-growth startups we represent (and into which our venture capital clients invest), intellectual property (IP) is typically the core asset driving the company’s value. Ensuring that the company’s IP is properly...more
Precedential Federal Circuit Opinions - QUALCOMM INCORPORATED v. INTEL CORPORATION [OPINION] (2020-1589, 2020-1590, 2020-1591, 2020-1592, 2020-1593, 2020-1594, 7/27/21) (Moore, Reyna, Stoll) - Moore, J. Vacating final...more
IN RE: SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD., SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS AMERICA, INC., LG ELECTRONICS INC., LG ELECTRONICS USA, INC. [OPINION] (2021-139, 2021-140, 6/30/2021) (Lourie, Dyk, Reyna) - Dyk, J. Granting the writs of...more
Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc., No. 20-440: In the late 1990s, Csaba Truckai invented and patented a device to treat abnormal uterine bleeding. Truckai assigned his interest to his company, Novacept, which in turn...more
296-1. Federal Circuit Finds Pre-Invention Ideas Not Covered Under Employment IP Assignment Agreement - The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently affirmed a ruling by the United States...more
Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc. v. International Trade Commission, Appeal No. 2020-1785 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 29, 2021) - The Federal Circuit’s only precedential patent decision this week comes on appeal from the International Trade...more
On the latest episode of Williams Mullen's Trending Now - An IP Podcast, Amy Pruett is joined by Janet Cho and Ed White to discuss approaches to IP-related agreements during a pandemic....more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court’s decision that a reformation of an incorrect assignment supports Article III standing and affirmed the court’s prejudgment interest award....more
PATENT CASE OF THE WEEK - Schwendimann v. Arkwright Advanced Coating, Inc., Appeal Nos. 2018-2416, et al. (Fed. Cir. May 5, 2020) (unsealed May 13, 2020) - In this recently unsealed precedential opinion, the Federal...more
As businesses consider how to transition to a "new normal," a thorough review of intellectual property (IP) assets and a protocol for managing those assets should be part of the planning process. For many companies, the...more
On this week’s episode, George Summerfield and Kelly Plummer explore five key questions academic medical centers often face with respect to patent ownership and enforcement. Their discussion covers a number of issues,...more
Recently, the government of Canada published the final version of the new Patent Rules (SOR/2019-251) in Canada Gazette, Part II on July 10, 2019. The new Rules and associated amendments to the Patent Act will come into force...more
In Regents of the Univ. of Minn. v. LSI Corporation, Fed. Cir., No. 18-01559, the Federal Circuit extended the inability to stand behind 11th Amendment Sovereign Immunity to patents owned by individual states, such that they...more
Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc., and Akron, Inc. petitioned for inter partes review (IPR) of various patents owned by Allergan, Inc., which the Board instituted. One week before the scheduled IPR...more
As we previously reported, following the Federal Circuit’s ruling in St. Regis Mohawk Tribe v. Mylan that “tribal immunity cannot be asserted in IPRs,” Allergan and the Tribe petitioned for rehearing en banc. The petition was...more
On July 20, 2018, the Federal Circuit affirmed in Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe v. Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. that tribal immunity cannot be asserted in IPRs. The appeal stemmed from a dispute between Allergan and various generic...more
On July 20, 2018, the Federal Circuit held that tribal sovereign immunity is not available as a defense in IPR. Allergan Pharmaceuticals owned patents that it had asserted in litigation against various generic...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has decided whether tribal sovereign immunity required termination of inter partes review (IPR) proceedings before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB). At the PTAB, Mylan...more
Federal Circuit Summary - Before Dyk, Moore, and Reyna. Appeal from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board. Summary: Tribal sovereign immunity does not shield Indian Tribe owned patents from IPR. ...more
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision finding that tribal sovereign immunity does not apply to Inter Partes Review (IPR) proceedings. In so holding, the...more